Tides of Friendship 2: Tears of Unfading Sorrow
by Bloom Flower
Summary: Sequel to Tides of Friendship 1AU With his closest and dearest friend gone, Malik felt pain like never before. But now new dangers arise as well as adventures. New faces surface but are they friend or foe? And how will Malik survive without Ryou?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Whew! I have been so busy lately! I'm so sorry I couldn't get this on sooner. So here it is! The sequel to "Tides of Friendship". I want to thank all those who had reviewed in the past for "Tides of Friendship". Thank you and I hope you will enjoy this as well. Please RR! Each reviews means a lot to this authoress. J Thank you! Please RR!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Please don't hurt me.

Tides of Friendship 2: **Unfading Sorrow**

Chapter One: **Living Nightmares**

Malik- the light

Marik- the yami

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Prologue

It was a dark and stormy night but it was near morning. The sky was still etched with black streaks of night left behind but lines of lighter blue ran across it like a pattern indicating morning was near but not too near since it was still another couple of hours away. Rain poured over the construction camp; pounding on the wooden roofs, demanding to be let in. Trees swift to one direction to another, never stopping as the hard gale blew against its branches and leaves. Mud formed where dirt can be found, which was almost everywhere. It was hard to keep dry that fierce night. Doors to rooms rattled loudly against the pressure. Malik could hardly sleep a wink. He was still thinking about his friend's departure of the living world. 'Ryou...' Malik thought, 'How is it up there? I really miss you, you know that? Don't forget to tell the others that I said hi.'

Malik smiled an ever so weak smile. He turned on his side, trying so hard to sleep and escape reality for the night. Suddenly there was a loud crack outside as the front door to the camp swung open. Malik sat up in his bunk and listen in to the conversation outside in the rain. After a few seconds he heard heavy footsteps and grunting. Finally, he heard the chief's raspy voice.

"I hate this stupid rain. It better let up tomorrow so the slaves can work!" he yelled to someone beside him.

"Yes, sire. But aren't you happy that we have found and captured new slaves?" asked a random guard.

Malik's forehead wrinkled in perplexity. 'New workers? They captured more people?' he thought to himself as he pressed his ear closer to the door for better hearing.

"Of course!" said the chief. "Stupid people, they think they can just hide out in the forest for the rest of their lives." He paused, then, chuckled at their so call stupidity. "But now, they can forget about all that junk since they'll be working for the Lord to build an entire new kingdom to replace the old pathetic city back then."

The chief spat out each word heavily with disgust. Then he toss his head back and laughed an evil and heartless laugh while the newly captured slaves throttled behind helplessly following in the rain, drenched from head to toe.

Malik took a peek outside and saw the marching slaves along with guards armed with spears pointing at their backs, preventing any escape possible. Then he glanced toward the chief talking to the guard. A large umbrella held by the guard beside the chief held it over the superior's head, shielding the man from the cold, wet crystalline droplets from above the darken sky while the guard was drenched himself in the rain, leaving the chief to be the only one to be dry and warm.

More mumbling was received by Malik. "Set them to work right away. Well after this stupid rain anyway. What's the matter with the sky? It has been raining for days now!" goes the chief. "Hate the dumb rain..."

"Yes, yes, sire..." went the guard as he held the umbrella more firmly as he hurried to keep the pace between him and the chief.

A cough arises into the air behind all the muttering in the rain. Then a voice came alive. "Don't worry, honey. We're almost there." The voice belonged to a woman about middle aged. She was talking and comforting a small child whom she was holding in her arms, as she tried to protect the child from the freezing temperature of the atmosphere.

"Be quiet and keep walking if you know what's good for you! Keep it up and I'll slaughter you both! You and your little weak daughter! You hear me, woman!" shouted the chief.

"Yes, yes, sire! I'm sorry!" apologized the wet woman as she said no more but held her descendant closer to her.

Marik couldn't help but felt extreme sorrow for the woman and her child. 'How heartless to treat such a youngster and her mother,' thougth Malik as he took another look at the small child in her mother's arms. The child was small enough to be about eight to ten years of age. The child was covered in a brown like cloth that act like a blanket helping the child from getting wet. Malik couldn't see much more of the child except its size. Gathering information from the small but cruel conversation between the child's mother and the chief, it gave Marik enough data to guess that the woman's child is indeed a small girl.

Then after what seems like and is gentle rain dropping and splattering into puddles into the mud, the chief spoke up again, breaking the still silence. "I want every single one of these people to work... including that little girl and her mother."

"Yes sire, but don't you think the girl is a bit young to be handling construction work?" asked the guard holding the umbrella over the chief's head.

Suddenly, the chief came to an abrupt halt and whirled his head toward the guard. He pressed his face close to the guard's and snarled in his face. "If you think that girl is a bit young to work, then she's useless, then why don't you just kill her off like everyone else in the past! Or we can just kill you instead," said the chief with malice in his eyes to harm and kill with lust.

"Sir, I mean no such thing! I'm sorry, sire! My dear chief, I'm truly sorry! I didn't know what I was saying! Please don't kill the girl!" pleaded the guard as he dropped to his knees hitting the mud and rising his hands to the chief to beg for mercy as he let the umbrella float gentle to the muddy ground.

The chief glanced down at the pleading guard. "Good, watch your mouth or I'll order someone to kill you and let the wild animals devour your corpse so you can't ever rest in peace like the others! We have lots of guards. Taking one away won't make a difference. Get up before I get any angrier from getting wet while you're on your pathetic knees!" he yelled.

"Yes, sire! Thank you, thank you!" he said as he returned to his position beside the chief with the bamboo umbrella in his hand serving the chief of a monster.

"Now hurry up and get the stupid slaves their bunks so I can go already!" said the chief.

"Yes, yes, sire! Right away!" said the guard.

Malik saw the guard peeking at the mother and her daughter, showing sorrow but he quickly turned and served the chief as the band of people strolled on.

Malik exhaled heavily. 'Just a small kid and her mother, but they have to work for this torture camp,' thought Malik. Then he thought about what the chief said about the people in the past who disobeyed and was killed off. 'Being killed and devoured by the animals so they can never rest in peace. They had thought if they died, then the suffering has ended but they never thought about resting in peace after living," thought Malik. Then he thought about the chief. 'How can anyone be so heartless and cruel? Only a monster hungry for blood and lust can be that cold...'

After a couple of moments, the group of people disappeared behind the buildings. Voices was dimmed then quickly faded out. Soon, silence hung in the air. So beautiful and so quiet. So quiet but yet so loud the silence is. How loud the silence is, ringing throughout the buildings and around the rain. Rain falls down spattering on the dirt, forming more mud than before the crew came in. Crickets chirp throughout the rain, loud and clear to Malik's ears.

He shut the squeaking door gently and slowly, afraid to wake the others. Then he retraced his steps back to his own bunk and lay down. He pulled to the blanket to his chest and turned, facing the closed window. He could still see the moon, but it was growing smaller and smaller the nearer morning crept by. He tried to forget what he had heard and seen that night about the child and her mother but he just couldn't. Marik hoped the best for the child and her mother. It stabbed him with painful force to see such pain for he knew what pain felt like; especially losing someone so dearest to him for he had been through it.

Malik thought about the first time he laid his eyes on the camp for the first time. It hurt Malik so much especially with all he had to endure. Malik was quite surprised and shock to find that after everything that has happened, he was still left standing and that he, has survived. He couldn't figure out how a being could feel so much pain at once. He was hurt and he knew it can never be mended. His heart was too broken. The scars ran too deep to be healed.

'When people think of pain, they know it hurts but how can anyone know how painful it is for me? And to see others tortured as well?' Malik toss and turned but after a while he managed to return to sleep but in his heart and in his mind, he still couldn't forget the horrid images and sounds of that dark and stormy night. But before he did, his heart ached from the earlier events and his heart yearns for the missing piece where Ryou used to be. As his eyelids began to drop, he thought and whispered out, "Save me, Ryou. Save me from this nightmare I'm living in reality. Please, save me, Ryou. Save me."

End of Chapter One

A/N: Well, RR and let me know how you like it. Please, no flames! Please RR. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Thank you.


	2. A New Face

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter to "Tides of Friendship 2: Tears of Unfading Sorrow". A new face and an OC mixed into one. I'm just so indolent... Gomen! Please RR!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the characters except my OC, Hana.

**Tides of Friendship 2: Tears of Unfading Sorrow**

Chapter Two: **A New Face**

It has been about three months after Ryou's departure; Malik is still working to expand the monstrous castle of the Lord. He hated him with all his heart content. For he blames everything on him. He swung the hammer onto the lumber, hammering the nail in place. Then he grabbed another nail blindly and jammed it in front of the lumber and brought the hammer down. Malik swing the hammer once, then twice. Then suddenly pain shock his thumb as he blindly brought the hammer down on the nail but it slipped onto his thumb. "Ow!"

He dropped the hammer quickly and yanks his hand back to examine his injury as his other hand went up as well. Malik thought about what Ryou said the other time he was here. "'Hope you feel better. Construction work is not for you, my friend.'" Malik eyes' watered but he refused to let the tears fall. 'Ryou, I miss you so bad. Where are you right now?' Malik looked at his thumb.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked a young innocent voice behind him.

Malik turned around and saw a young girl looking back at him. She smiled at him with a large friendly innocent smile as her scarred hands held a small ragged doll that hung limply. He saw that she was approximately no more than eight to ten years of age. She was about three to four feet in height. Her black hair fell past her shoulders; tied together by a tiny strip of white cloth. Several strands of her hair had found their way out of the knot and hung untamed, covering her ears. Scars decorated inches on her hands and Malik could see one running deeply from her left cheek down to her neck. The child was dressed in a shirt that fitted her perfectly except skin can be seen on her shoulder area for that area on the fabric has been tore including on her sleeves and her the bottom of her pants were stained with a dark substance that caked and is falling off piece by piece. The mud stained her shirt in several areas but the girl didn't seem to mind. She continues to smile at Malik. "Are you okay, sir?" she repeated.

Malik continue to look at the child. The smile never left her face as she still stands in front of him. "Uh... Yeah, I'm fine," he finally answered her.

"That's good. Hi, my name's Hana," the girl said as the warm smile spread even wider over her face. "Nice to meet you, uh..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Malik. Nice to meet you too, Hana-"

"Marik!"

"No, no. It's Malik, not Marik," explained Malik.

"Oh, sorry. I think I mistook you for someone else. I just got here yesterday somewhere close to morning, I think. I don't really know since I was asleep in my mother's arms when the guards found us and took us here. I woke up and everyone was just fleeing everywhere! I didn't know what really happen. The next moment I was being pulled by my mother across a mud river. Then I believe we were caught and my mother held me the whole way here."

It hit Malik that the child standing before him is the same child he saw last night in her mother's arms! And that also explain why her clothes are caked in mud. "So you just came yesterday?"

"Yeah, that's right, I believe. I'm sorry again for mistaking you for someone else. You see, last night when we got our bunks, we saw and heard someone outside talking to that ugly chief guy and I heard his name was Marik? I also heard that chief guy called him by Commander Marik. They were arguing about something so I sneaked a peek but I couldn't really make out his face in all that darkness. Your names are really similar and now that I mentioned it, you two look a bit the same too, not that hard to take one for the other. Sorry, Malik," said Hana.

"So Marik knew about the new recruits and talked to the chief..."

"You...you know him!" asked Hana surprised.

Malik scratched the back of his head and looked down at her. "Well, uh... Kind of, I guess. We're kind of like brothers. Nothing can separate us."

Her little eyes lit up with light and her mouth formed a big 'o'. "Wow!"

"So your name's Hana? It means flower, doesn't it?" asked Marik leaving the subject behind.

Hana nodded at him. "Yes, it does. And this is my doll. A lot of kids call it childish but I don't care. I like to play with it; it was a gift from my mother. I never go anywhere without it, ever. Her name's Susi. I don't care if it's childish, I'll never change a thing."

Malik was very impressed she has such persistence and determination to be an individual. "Yes, never change because someone told you to or makes fun of you. If you changed in the past, then the Hana in front of me right now won't exist anymore, now would she?"

Hana giggles. "Yes, thanks. Malik, will you be my friend? I don't have anyone anymore to play with anymore... You didn't make fun of me or think I'm worthless. You look and sound like a very nice person, so will you be my friend, Malik? Pretty please?"

She looks at him with a giant frown and large puppy dog eyes. She even whimpered now and then to act out the part. Malik smiled then giggled. "I couldn't just say no to that face," Malik said as he acquiesces to her begging.

"Yay! I have a new friend!" squealed Hana as she jumps and claps her hands continuously. "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

Malik couldn't help himself but smiled and chuckle at the kid. But he stopped and focuses on the ugly scars on her hands and face. 'Who or what could have caused her such agonizing memories?' Malik was lost in thought. He thought of asking her but he quickly threw away that idea since it would be like prying open her life and disclosing her secrets to the open. Besides, what if she doesn't want to talk about it? So Malik just kept on smiling at her. 'I must look like an idiot all smiling like this...' he thought.

Finally, Hana stopped and turned back to him. "Well, I have to go before my mother worry or something. Thanks for being my friend. See you around!" With that, she turned and ran to another location of the construction site as fast as her little legs can run, jumping over puddles of mud left behind by the night's rain.

It really made Malik sad when the mere thought of Hana working in this dangerous place ran in his mind. Malik anticipated the day where they can be all free at last so much. Everyone can finally run free and be gone of this living underworld that has somehow taken over the living world. Malik turn back to his work and began to hammer nails into the thick lumber once again. He looks back at his thumb.

The tender flesh has started to turn a purplish color but it was only a minor injury. But it didn't bother him. After meeting Hana and considering her a friend, he wasn't going to let some little bruise ruin the whole day for him by hanging over his head like some black ominous cloud. A friend was something he desperately need in a time like this especially since he had lost his own not so long ago. Without warning, Malik's ears met the sound of a loud chirp above.

Workers left to go to another location of the site for that area was finished except for Malik. He was the only one left that hasn't finish with his work but Malik didn't care; he kept on looking in the sky.

He looked up and witness sparrows flying together then they flew away together still chirping. Malik watched them dance in the air around one another then flying away. They grew smaller as Malik's and their distance became further but he just kept on watching them. Finally, their chirping fainted then died out as the birds' tiny bodies are obscured by the density of the forest. Even when the animals were out of sight, Malik just kept on looking. Then he turned back to the site and picked up a nail.

Malik place the tool on his left hand and drew a thick and deep line. The line ran just below his index finger and ran just under his thumb. He then jabbed the nail into his wound. Malik grimace at the pain but he shook it off. Blood started to take color and soon, it dripped off his left hand forming a tiny puddle on the wet ground. The moist dirt immediately absorbed the liquid into the earth leaving the deep dark stains as markings. The dark red substance ran over his palm and over his entire hand. He knew it was a foolhardy act to commit but he did it despite the results. Then Malik look up to the sky and held his wounded limp out. Malik grimaced at the sight of blood and the feel of throbbing pain.

"Ryou... Upon this wound, I vow to you, I will be free one day. I vow on this day that one day I will fly high like the birds in the sky. I will run free like a wild horse with no restraints. I will be free like the wind, going where I want to go! I will be free one day, Ryou, I promise you! I will be free!" Malik screamed into the sky as tears ran down his face and onto the ground. "I vow I will be free and avenge you, Ryou! I promise you on this wound! I will be free!"

More tears ran down his face as he drops to his knees crying. The pain in his hand was great but it was no competition for the agonizing pain in his heart. He has lost so much already. Everything dearest to him is gone. But Malik's not going down without a hard core fight. He still has hope. He still knows he didn't lose the battle yet. But Malik still sometimes wondered if he can continue on or has he already lost. Sometimes it just seems so worthless to continue on. To someone's hopeless eyes, he had lost the battle long before it has even begun.

End of Chapter Two

A/N: Well, yeah, if you want freedom that badly, you just might do anything...which is true. RR please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the characters except my OC, Hana.


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